


Resolution

by valerienne (valderys)



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: M/M, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-20
Updated: 2010-01-20
Packaged: 2017-10-06 12:30:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valderys/pseuds/valerienne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the morning after the night before...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Resolution

**Author's Note:**

> My second ever piece of RPS - still playing around with New Year in Hawaii. Written 2004.

The sunlight lapping at the corners of his eyes is trying to tell him something, Billy muses, but he's buggered if he's going to do anything about it. He's comfortable, and he's on holiday, and for once he's going to sleep in. So he doesn't move.

The sunlight beating on his head is definitely trying to tell him something, Billy thinks a while later, as he contemplates, just for a moment, the likelihood of extra sleep gained, divided by the inconvenience of shifting to where the sun is being less… insistent. It keeps him occupied until he dozes again.

It's the sunlight pounding his head into the mattress with all the force of a lump hammer that finally makes him listen at last. Now what's it trying to say? Oh yes – don't go to bed after any New Year's party without drinking pints and pints of water… Particularly not when you've been fed weird looking tropical cocktails all night by your best mate, who insists that all the fruit juice makes it healthy, not alcoholic, and just have one more, Bills, why don't you, after all it's fucking _New Year_ in _Hawaii_! Yeah, of course it is, thanks a lot there, Dommie.

The sun has heated the back of his neck until he desperately wants to scratch at it, the slightly too sweaty flesh hot and uncomfortable, but he knows if he moves then he won't be able to ignore the headache any more, and that the reality of the fucking huge hangover he's got – and he knows it's there, he can feel it lurking just beyond his eyelids – will make him miserable. And he doesn't want to be miserable. Not here, not now. New Year in Hawaii, remember?

He remembers the party at least. Or he thinks he does, although the succession of blond, tanned girls, most of them towering over him – not that's he's not used to that, or complaining either – do blend into one another, after a while. There was Cindy, wasn't there? And Maggie. And Evie. Although, thinking about it, she was a brunette. Serious looking girl, with a sweeter face than most. Less teeth. Billy thinks about that. It makes no sense, except to his dazed brain at this time in the morning. Or is it afternoon yet? He doesn't even know that much.

But. Less teeth. He knows what he means. She didn't smile so much as the others. Toothpaste smiles. So blinding white it makes his own teeth ache. Not, to be fair, that he can tell what isn't aching just at the moment. And they ended up having quite a serious conversation about, about… Billy groans. God. Well, actually they talked about him too, or manifestations of him, anyway, but mainly, he remembers, they talked about Dom. Actually, he was doing most of the talking, wasn't he? And this Evie listening with a funny smile on her face, and laughing quite a lot. What was she laughing at anyway? Well, Billy thinks, I'm a pretty funny wee guy. Obviously. So.

Then there was a bloke called… called… Hor-hay. No… Yes. That's George in Spanish, isn't it? Did Billy know that last night? Who knows? Who cares? A huge expanse of violent Hawaiian shirt shaking with laughter is what Billy remembers. Not a thin chap, by any means, he thinks. Fills a niche market, a large niche market, Billy remembers him saying, the fat friend. _You should meet Sean…_

So many people. Most of them new. And Dom floating around like a particularly manic bumble bee, repartee stinging, all the while sipping at his own drink, although Billy doesn't remember any virulent cocktails for him. He does remember a touch on his arm occasionally, the thumb ring on Dom's hand feeling warmer on his flesh than Dom himself, before the inevitable rushing off again – Dom the centre of the party, of course, lighting up the room, being the host, glowing in the attention, all ripped jeans and flying scarf…

And that's why Billy drank so much. Wasn't it? Wasn't it? New friends, new castmates. New crew. Still time for old ones, of course, Dom wouldn't ignore or forget old friends. Of course he wouldn't. But.

Jealousy, Bills? Not like you. Not like you at all. He can almost hear Dom say it. Can almost see him shake his head at him in mock despair, in sneaking glinting outrage. Can almost see that crooked grin which promises he's going to have the piss ripped out of him unmercifully for this. And he'll deserve it too.

Fuck.

Billy opens his eyes at last with a sinking sense of the inevitable. So it is unexpected shock that launches him backwards across the bed with a cry, high-pitched and sudden. Like a girl. Yeah, right, thanks for that memory too, Dom. The green lizard that has been looking at him from the distance of some three inches appears unmoved, and remains squatting on his pillow – the lizard's pillow, Billy decides, all at once. Far be it from him to dispute ownership. No, he's not greedy, no, not at all, he can share…

The rough laugh from behind him startles him nearly as much as the lizard has, although why it should Billy isn't sure. His head aches and he clutches his face in his hands briefly as the room spins. There is a little china clink and the bed dips a little, then the feel of a rough square palm rubbing his back in small circles, soothing, although Billy still feels a little sick. Shite, but he's getting too old for this.

He looks round then, and catches the warmth and the laugh – and yeah, take the piss, you bastard, while you can, it catches up eventually – in the grey eyes, and sees the mug of coffee slowly steaming into the diffuse sunshine patterning the walls of the room in stripes of shadow and light. He grins then, at the brown-blond hair sticking up in tufts and the smudged remains of eyeliner that turn those eyes smoky dark.

"My new friend," Dom indicates the lizard with a waggle of his eyebrows. It surprises a laugh out of Billy, that changes into a wince.

"Git," he says equitably, and reaches for the mug that Dom has brought in, "It nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Nah, you nearly frightened her to death. I could have you up for cruelty to lizards."

"Her? How can you tell, it's a bloody reptile!"

"I can just tell. She likes to come in now and again – her and her mates. I get chameleons sometimes too."

"There's more of them!" Billy looks round in pretend panic, before relaxing into the hand which is still rubbing his back, the skin just feeling warm now, comforting, flesh no longer prickling unpleasantly in the heat. "It's a bloody zoo in here."

"Welcome to the animal house."

They share a grin this time, like the old mates they are, conspiratorial, crafty. Billy is suddenly very conscious of the warmth of Dom's hand, and shifts a little to cover the embarrassment of his uncertainty.

But Dom lifts his hand away then, holding it hovering, before clasping his palm on the nape of Billy's neck for a second, one finger moving in the little wavy hairs there, making Billy shiver, before he rises, all in one motion, and heads for the door.

He pauses, and looks back, his eyes weirdly pale and opaque in the fractured light that creeps in from the half-drawn blind. "I couldn't bring everything, remember? Gizmo and the others. Had to leave them behind. Found the lizards here in Hawaii, and invited them in. They like watching me play PlayStation."

Dom seems to wait for a response from him, but Billy feels as fractured as the light.

"They _are_ all right, you know. Being looked after. And I think about them. A lot." Dom leans his head on the door jamb for a few seconds, looking briefly as tired as Billy feels, smiling uncertainly. "The lizards were just what I found here."

Billy clears his throat, "Aye. Well. I see."

"Yeah."

One last grin and Dom is gone. Maybe to finish dressing, maybe to find some food. It doesn't really matter, thinks Billy. It's not the point. New Year in Hawaii. A new year, with new friends, and new situations. So Dom's washed up in Hawaii, leaving things behind. So he finds new things. New people. It's nothing to make a big deal out of. Is it? Is it?

Chameleons. Changing to match the surroundings. But they're still the same underneath. Billy looks at the lizard on his pillow.

"Hi, mate," he whispers at last, happier now, feeling generous, with coffee in his hand, and the sounds of Dom clattering about in the kitchen, and the lingering feel of Dom's fingers in his hair. "Nice to meet you."

Greetings from old friends to the new.


End file.
